The latest release from 30-year-old Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozená confirms the growing maturity and underlines the intelligence of her music-making . . .

Record Review /
Music Week (London) / 17. April 2004

Classical CD of the WeekThe young Czech mezzo Magdalena Kozená is demonstrating remarkable range as much as the consummate artistry which has made her one of the hottest vocal names of the moment -- beyond the baroque repertoire in which she excels . . . five different composers requiring her to sing in five different languages -- and equally varying moods, all of which she pulls off with effortless eloquence and sensitivity.

Record Review /
The Observer (London) / 18. April 2004

. . . a career worth following . . . The one constant feature is vocal beauty. Kozená's mezzo is a young gazelle of a voice, soaring up into soprano territory as easily as Anne Sofie von Otter or Susan Graham, and it takes very kindly to the recording process. There is not a moment on this disc where the tone sounds strained or its beauty manufactured . . . Did anyone say 20th-century songs were difficult to enjoy? Here is a disc where they cast a spell of enchantment.

Record Review /
Richard Fairman,
Gramophone (London) / 01. May 2004

. . . these are songs that show off the Czech mezzo-soprano's particular gifts quite as much as the talents of her chosen composers . . . Kozená's Ravel is exquisite . . . Shostakovich's sharp, little "Satires" . . . showcases Kozená's gifts as a singing actress, so distinctive when she is on stage . . . Altogether different again is Respighi's "Il tramonto" . . . Kozená relishes the Italian composer's lush late Romanticism . . . The vocal line is perfectly shaped as Kozená allows the melody to hover over the setting sun . . . Indeed it's a measure of Kozená artistry that you take the rest of this creaking gothic tale seriously . . . Schulhoff and his songs deserve to be better known . . . These are songs suffused with an unmistakable central-European Sehnsucht which Kozená never allows to slip into sentimentality . . . Not that the trips to Western Europe on this recital aren't equally satisfying. Kozená is everthing one could hope for in a musical travelling companion.

Record Review /
Christopher Cook,
International Record Review (London) / 01. May 2004

Ravel wanted his "Chansons madécasses" to sound 'new, dramatic and erotic' and Kozená succeeds, performing them on full throttle, her phrases dripping with desire and anguish. In Shostakovich's "Satires" she negotiates the composer's difficult blend of emotion and irony with masterfull control. And she pares her voice down to gripping simplicity for Britten's "English Lullabies". Martineau's accompaniments are beautifully well-jugded -- almost another voice rather than an accompaniment. This feels less like an recital than an exploration of limits -- limits that Kozená will keep pushing back.

Now singing idiomatically in French, Russian, German, Italian and English, Kozená lends an earthy world music timbre to the African-inspired chanting of Ravel's cycle and imparts Shostakovich's "Satires" the terse black humour that makes the late songs so haunting. With the Henschel, she evokes the dreamy Italian sensuality of Respighi's setting of a Shelley translation. She is also persuasive in the Britten set "A Charm of Lullabies": this is a performance to put beside the interpretations of Janet Baker and Anne Sofie von Otter.

Record Review /
The Sunday Times (London) / 02. May 2004

Five underexposed works . . . by as many composers in as many languages, all dispatched with impeccable style and keen individuality, come to startling life on this disc . . . The sheer relish with which Kozená tackles the material and puts over these songs spares listeners what, from another artist, might be an Advertisement for Myself. Kozená is plainly too involved in the music to preen. CD by CD, the Czech mezzo has built on her enormous promise. Here is a singer now in possession of a voice with an immediately recognizable sound, an unsurpassed command of language, a sharply etched artistic profile that nevertheless can disappear inside a role and, that final "sine qua non" of a great singer, the ability to fuse note to word inseparably. Her impeccable technique takes the additional trouble to be infinitely fluid and even personal . . . It's sensual, physical singing of a kind one had almost forgotten existed.

I am filled with nothing but admiration . . . Her voice is compelling not only in its muscled strength of tone but in the drama, passion and gravitas that she brings to everything she sings . . . Full of unusual treasures.

Record Review /
Sydney Star / 06. May 2004

CD of the Week: This is a disc to treasure . . . the most obvious connecting tissues are Kozená's overriding artistry and her command of language . . . a worthy successor to Kozená's all-Czech debut disc.

Record Review /
Matthew Rye,
Daily Telegraph (London) / 08. May 2004

This is a disc to treasure. The Czech mezzo Magdalena Kozená has put together a collection of songs from five composers, representing five European cultures and set in five different languages, none of them her own. Outwardly, there is little to connect the components of this recital, but there is an underlying nocturnal theme . . . But the most obvious connecting tissues are Kozená's overriding artistry and her command of language. Whether she is singing in French, Russian, Italian, German or English, there is the utmost confidence that she knows the very essence of the words and their meaning . . . The more long-limbed vocal lines of the Ravel and Respighi bring out the lyrical ease of her voice and also show her ability to intertwine her vocal line with her instrumentalist colleagues . . .

Record Review /
Matthew Rye,
Daily Telegraph (London) / 08. May 2004

Now singing idiomatically in French, Russian, German, Italian and English, Kozená lends an earthy world-music timbre to the African-inspired chanting of Ravel's cycle and imparts to Shostakovich's "Satires" the terse black humour that makes these late songs so haunting. With the "Henschel", she evokes the dreamy Italian sensuality of Respighi's setting of a Shelley translation. She is also persuasive in the Britten set "A Charm of Lullabies": this is a performance to put beside the interpretations of Janet Baker and Anne Sofie von Otter. Perhaps the most interesting items are the three German songs by Schulhoff . . . Kozená is a passionate advocate of an unjustly neglected composer, cruelly silenced by the Nazis.

Record Review /
The Sunday Times (London) / 09. May 2004

This is her best recording so far . . . glorious performances.

Record Review /
Michael Shmith,
Live wire / 20. May 2004

An intriguing catch of songs from the first half of the 20th century is on offer here, in five European languages and five distinct musical idioms. And Kozená and her chamber-musical colleagues have plenty to say about each one.

A rich, burnished mezzo combined with a desire to explore make this fine singer someone to watch.

Record Review /
Gramophone (London) / 01. August 2004

Magdalena Kožená's multi-lingual recital shows this singer's formidable talent for performing widely varying musical styles. Beginning with her idiomatic French (ofwhich we had a substantial sampling on her previous French arias disc . . . she uses her light but well-placed and penetrating mezzo to illuminate Ravel's seductive Madagascar Songs. Listen to how Kožená creates a nearhypnotic effect with her passionate repeated cries of "Nahandove". In Shostakovich's Satires (5 Romances for Soprano and Piano ) Kožená embodies the composer's varied emotional states, from bemusement to sarcasm, and, in the concluding "Kreutzer Sonata", repressed frenzy . . . After Shostakovich's sharp edges, Respighi's lush romantic rhapsody "Il Tramonto" allows Kožená the opportunity to luxuriate in long, expansive melodic lines as well as in the resonance of pure Italianate vowels, for which the singer provides an engaging fullness of tone and depth of expression. From this we turn to Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" (for mezzo-soprano, violin, and piano), which begins with a lazy, quasi blues song about the sea and ends in a Debussian impressionistic haze. Kožená's creamy tone and gentle delivery make even the German language sound soft and inviting. In Britten's "Charm of Lullabies" . . . her sincerity and unerring musical instincts shine through, communicating the power and poignancy of Britten's songs. The well-chosen selections offer a variety of accompaniments, from the flute, cello, and piano trio in the Ravel, to the string quartet in the Respighi, with Malcom Martineau's sensitive pianism providing fundamental support throughout. DG's recording provides vividly realistic sonics, placing the singer and instrumentalists in natural, well-balanced perspective. In sum, this is an excellent recital disc that will please connoisseurs of the voice as well as collectors of uncommon repertoire.

On CD, she has proved a consistent winner, presenting out-of-the-way material inintriguing juxtapositions, interpreting the selections with intimacy and flair . . . Bewildering as the terrain might seem in its diversity, Kozená never seems out of herelement. Singing in five languages, she ranges from Bacchic abandon to Gothic mystery.She knows just when to let the music flow and when to make it "talk.'' Ravel inspires herto passages of fresh wonder; Shostakovich provokes a grumpy, bruised dignity. Thoughher voice is pleasing -- light, bright and flexible -- you wouldn't choose her recital as thebackdrop for conversation. Kozená is a demanding artist. She makes you listen.

Record Review /
Bloomberg News / 01. September 2004

And another Best of Category winner for Kozená with an attractive collection of 20th-century vocal works which also demonstrated her linguistic abilities over five languages.

Record Review /
Gramophone Awards Issue (London) / 01. October 2004

Much interest in Magdalena Kozená's powerful new recital disc will be centered on Erwin Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" ("Three Atmospheric Portraits"), op. 12. This haunting piece by the singularly talented composer . . . is well worth hearing. The gifted mezzo is helped in no little part by the ideal accompaniment provided by Malcolm Martineau who also lends strong support to Ms. Kozená's moody singing of Britten's spooky "A Charm of Lullabies". The Czech singer's charmingly accented English lends the music an extra brooding quality. Written for Peter Pears, the music is a showcase for Ms. Kozená's ravishingly beautiful low voice. It would be hard to find a better performance of Respighi's magnificent work for soprano and string quartet, "Il tramonto" . . . none have found the sensuous heart of the music better than Kozená. The Henschel quartet plays splendidly, as do the instrumentalists in Ravel's "Chansons madécasses" . . . Young Magdalena Kozená proves a master of these challenging works, each and every one. This is an impressive follow up to her first recital and is, for this reviewer, the lovely mezzo's finest work on disc to date. The recording is first rate . . . Highly recommended.

A Picture - and Pictures - of an Age

For this, her second, song recital, Magdalena Kožená has put together an unusually wide-ranging programme - a consciously “composed" musical portrait of the first half of the 20th century: songs from five European countries representing five different cultures - and in five different languages (not including her native Czech). “Languages are of particular interest to me," says Magdalena Kožená, “because language is essentially bound up with singing. Unlike instrumentalists, we singers have to convey a linguistic message. We have to speak to the audience. And just as, on the one hand, the language is communicated to the audience, so, on the other, it influences the music." And it is this, the singer stresses, that is the most important aspect of her new song recital: she wants to show how each language shapes, forms, and colours the music in highly individual ways.

Shostakovich wrote his Five Satires op. 109 in 1960 for the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, the wife of the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. What may sound surprisingly succinct is in fact the most vicious grotesquerie. This embittered tone is furnished by Sasha Chorny's sarcastic words. Although these texts date from the pre-Revolutionary period, Shostakovich and his contemporaries had no difficulty in hearing in them a malicious and critical allusion to run-down Soviet realism. “This is most striking in the third song," says Magdalena Kožená: “There's always the same old promise that things will get better, although everyone knows very well that nothing is getting any better under Soviet rule. And in the piano accompaniment it sounds as if, bar by bar, someone is desperately beating his hand against a wall - it's hopeless." Angry songs, sad music, black humour, dull melancholy: “This reflects the Russian mentality! The Russians tend to be very sad, while at the same time appearing to enjoy this sadness."

Melancholy is also the keynote of Erwin Schulhoff's Drei Stimmungsbilder op. 12 from 1913. Schulhoff was born in Prague in 1894 and, like Magdalena Kožená, was Czech. His works are particularly close to her heart: “I was immediately fascinated by this little song cycle. They are atmospheric portraits and emotions that are familiar to me from my homeland, even if they are settings of German, rather than Czech, texts. In the intensity of their tone colours they remind me very much of the paintings of Egon Schiele. All the colours are so intense. At the same time, there is a veil of melancholy over them - and the solo violin plays around the soliloquizing voice as though it is its alter ego."

It is difficult to think of a starker contrast than that between Schulhoff's cycle and A Charm of Lullabies op. 41, which Britten wrote in 1947 for the mezzo-soprano Nancy Evans and which is one of his few solo vocal works within a span of twenty-five years that was not conceived expressly for the tenor voice of Peter Pears. “Even this is exceptional. But even more astonishing is the fact that Britten, who had neither children nor a family, could be inspired by these lullaby texts." They are correspondingly personal and in places so powerfully expressive that with the possible exception of the first song they have little in common with the traditional idea of lullabies. “In terms of their atmospheric content, these lullabies go far beyond the sort of cheerful verse used to send little children to sleep. But it is precisely this that makes them so intimate in their highly idiosyncratic way."

With Maurice Ravel's Chansons madécasses (1926) we enter yet another musical world - and one of which Magdalena Kožená is particularly fond. “Ravel is undoubtedly one of my favourite composers. With him, every note is in place; none of them is superfluous, none is missing. It's incredible! At the same time, Ravel likes playing with the notes, with each phrase, with each musical brush stroke." Here it is colours and shades that matter, especially the tone colours that Ravel coaxes from the flute, cello, and piano. But these songs are also notable for their humour. “It is Ravel's typical sense of humour, whereby a particular mood is abruptly shattered. The best example is the third song, in which an emotionally incomparably dense atmosphere is built up, so that the listener feels something like a hot shudder at the end. It is at this very moment that the mood suddenly shifts to one that could hardly be more prosaic: 'Allez, et préparez le repas!' (Go and prepare the meal)." In fact, Ravel wrote this cycle for male voice, a choice implied by Évariste-Désiré de Parny's words: “La belle Nahandove, ma jeune amie, tes baisers pénčtrent jusqu'ŕ l'âme (Beautiful Nahandove, my young female friend, your kisses transfix my soul)" and so on. “For me, these songs are extremely erotic! And why shouldn't I sing songs written for men? I've sung enough trouser roles on stage. I'm used to men's roles. Why shouldn't I do the same in lieder?"

Written in 1914 for voice and string quartet, Ottorino Respighi's Il tramonto has less to do with eroticism than with love, in this case unrequited love. Although Respighi made arguably the greatest contribution to Italian music since Puccini, the present song cycle is not, in Magdalena Kožená's view, really an example of Italian music. Rather, the singer sees parallels with Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande. It is, moreover, very intimate music: “There's no discernible sense of ecstasy as there is with Puccini." And the vocal writing is not typical of Italian opera. Instead, it is integrated into the quartet writing, providing, as it were, a fifth voice that conducts a monologue with itself, while the string quartet expresses the inner sensitivities of the purely external narrative. “Although I have a text to sing, what matters is not the message, but the multiplicity of feelings and moods that these words evoke in the music and in our interpretation."

Werner Pfister

Magdalena Kožená - Chronology

1973

1973 Born in the Czech city of Brno

1987-91

Vocal and piano studies at Brno Conservatory with Neva Megová and Jirí Peša

1991-95

Student of Eva Blahová at Bratislava Drama College

1995

Prizewinner at the Sixth International Mozart Competition in Salzburg
Extensive tours of Japan and the USA

Performances of Idomeneo with Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker in Berlin, Lucerne, and at the Salzburg Easter Festival
London, Paris, and Lisbon concert performances, and Archiv recording of Gluck's Paride ed Elena with McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort & Players
Cherubino at the Met and Bavarian State Opera, Dorabella at the Salzburg Easter Festival
Extensive recital tours of the USA and Europe including New York's Carnegie Hall, London's Wigmore Hall, the Vienna Konzerthaus, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw
CDs: A recital disc with Malcolm Martineau of song cycles by Britten, Ravel, Respighi, Schulhoff, and Shostakovich (DG 471 581-2); also recorded in 2003 for release later: Bachiana III - arias, cantatas, and scenes by the Bach Family, with Reinhard Goebel and Musica Antiqua Köln

2004/05

The new season begins with her Dorabella at San Francisco Opera and Kátya Kabanová at the Met